Feast on food, art and culture in St Ives

With 2016 well under way and spring within touching distance, we can feel the all too familiar bubbles of excitement building for the year ahead. St Ives is a beautiful place to visit at any time of year but if you like to satisfy your inner culture vulture whilst travelling, why not coincide your holiday with one of our favourite festivals? There is certainly plenty to choose from…

St Ives Literature Festival

Saturday 14^th – Saturday 21^st May

If you’re a wordsmith at heart then we highly recommend a visit to St Ives during the literature festival. Packed with events celebrating the written word there is a busy schedule of events taking place across the town from open-air poetry readings and comedy to book launches and live music. Just around the corner in Norway Square you can listen to live music and poetry readings every day (for free) and if you have always flirted with the idea of penning your own work, there are a range of drop-in workshops to get you started.

If a luxury literature break sounds like your cup of tea, take a look at the remaining availability in our luxury self-catering apartments in Cornwall here.

St Ives Food and Drink Festival

Saturday 15^th & Sunday 15^th May

St Ives Food and Drink Festival celebrates some of the regions finest producers, chefs and local food on Porthminster Beach. The weekend plays hosts to a number of talented local chefs who will be showcasing their culinary skills with some fabulous cookery demonstrations, rumour has it there may even be a few well known chef’s also paying a visit to the cookery stage! There will also be a live music stage to really add that festival flavour and if you’re feeling a bit peckish you’ll be spoilt for choice with the range of food stalls offering street food style catering. The producers market will be bigger and better this year so have a wander and try a few nibbles for free.

If the foodie vibe floats your boat we have put together a special package for the festival weekend, find out more here.

St Ives September Festival

10^th – 24^th September

One of our favourites and most certainly a highlight of the year, St Ives September Festival is a cultural feast offering two weeks of live music, art, performance and exhibitions across a huge number of venues in the town. With something for everyone this festival is hugely diverse and spans all genres from world music, folk and jazz to name just a few. The headline acts are beginning to trickle through and so far the confirmed names include ‘Rick Wakeman’, ‘Baka Beyond’ and ‘Sound of the Sirens’. The majority of events are ticketed but you’ll also find lots of quirky street artists on hand to provide lots of free entertainment throughout the festival.

If getting knee deep in culture has your pulse racing checkout our remaining availability for the festival weeks here.

Kelly x

Looking for reasons to visit St Ives this September…

St Ives September Festival, Saturday 12 - Saturday 26

September in St Ives is when the town starts to mellow, the weather is still favourable and the evenings are still long, making it the perfect time for a luxury self catering getaway. The Sail Lofts coastal position is perfect for long evening strolls along the cliff tops and around St Ives cobbled streets, ending with laid back drinks and delicious food relaxing around the harbour front watching the boats bob along gentle waves.

During September the St Ives annual music and arts festival kicks off on Saturday 12^th and runs for 2 weeks, up until Saturday 26^th and features a well rounded host of live acts including musicians, theatre and comedy acts, cabaret and street entertainment, not to mention art workshops and art exhibitions embracing St Ives rich cultural heritage.

Acts confirmed so far for 2015 include Show Of Hands, Steve Knightley, Johnny Cowling, Miranda Sykes & Rex Preston, The Acoustic Strawbs, The Rollin’ Clones and Mad Dog Mcrea. 

The St Ives September Festival began in a back kitchen in Teetotal Street just around the corner from The Sail Lofts in September 1977 bringing together the diverging interests of several arts and music professionals. The first Festival, which ran from 14th to 24th September 1978 was already ambitious in its scope and covered folk music, dance, fine arts, chamber music, poetry, arts & crafts and theatre, and even featured a very young Nigel Kennedy.

The Festival has continued over the past thirty-five years, with a few short breaks, and with different organisations responsible for arranging the programme. It has always been a very important part of the town’s cultural life, and people come from year to year to take advantage of the very wide range of events that are on offer.

So if you are considering a holiday in St Ives this September and are looking for self catering accommodation please contact us on 01736 799175 or to view availability please use the link below…

Katy x

September Availability

Fuel for the day...

Early mornings have never been my thing but thanks to the arrival of our beautiful baby girl I have a newfound appreciation of early starts and I’ve fallen in love with St Ives all over again.

Now, don’t get me wrong a lie in would be nice from time to time but I’ve decided to embrace the dark circles, get out nice and early and sample what St Ives’ breakfast menu’s have to offer.

Porthminster Beach Café

Topping my list has to be this beautiful little beach café that you usually have to book weeks in advance. At sunrise however it’s a different story. We arrived at 9.30am on a Saturday morning and had our choice of tables and it really was perfect in every way – the weather, the view, the food and the sleeping baby! I plumped for the free-range poached eggs with a cheeky side order of local sausage and bacon and it was divine. The other half of course went for the full fry-up and without even a smidge of brown sauce left on the plate I’d say it was a winner. Washed down with locally sourced apple juice and freshly squeezed orange juice, it really couldn’t have been better.

Porthmeor Beach Café

Continuing the beach theme (well we are in Cornwall!) we headed to Porthmeor Beach Café. This is somewhere I’ve always wanted to eat but until now simply haven’t gotten around to and breakfast seemed a great place to start. It did not disappoint. Being a sucker for granola, yoghurt and compote I couldn’t resist this when I saw it on the menu and I must say it was one of the best. Hubby built his own brekkie and ordered most items on the menu despite my encouragement to try something a bit different. Again we managed to dine alfresco and the view really is one of my favourites in St Ives and despite the baby being far from asleep she was impeccably behaved and charmed the other diners with her cuteness.

Hub, St Ives

Being massive fans of The Hub for lunchtime and evening food we decided to give this harbour front hang-out a go for breakfast. The breakfast menu itself is fairly simple but what they do, they do well. This time around we decided to share a stack of pancakes with summer berries & maple syrup and a ‘Pig me up’. Both delicious but the pancakes were a definite hit for me. Whilst the weather wasn’t quite so kind on this breakfast outing the cosy booths and décor create an American style diner feel which is a refreshing change for St Ives.

There are a few more breakfast outings planned this summer so if I come across any other gems I’ll let you know.

Kelly x

sail loft guide: flag safety

With the Summer season kicking off in St Ives and a few of our self catering holiday guests bravely taking to the sea, we felt it would be a great time to brush up on our beach safety knowledge by testing ourselves on the different flags that we can see on Porthmeor and the surrounding St Ives beaches...

Staying safe and respecting the sea is key when having a trouble free and fun day at the beach, so remember to always spot the local lifeguard and make sure you keep them in sight whilst enjoying the sea and to stay between the yellow and red flags when swimming, body boarding and using inflatables and never risk a dip when a red flag is flying.

All our self catering guests will find a stock of body boards, buckets and spades to borrow in the wet room and as a suggestion we recommend a surfing lesson with the brilliant team at the award winning St Ives Surf School, where Sail Lofts guests get 10% off.

To find out more on flags and beach safety please visit the RNLI website for further information...

Katy x

Celebrate great food and drink in St Ives

Celebrate great food and drink in St Ives

Preparations for the St Ives Food and Drink Festival, taking place between 21^st and 27^th May 2012, are well underway.

The town comes alive during the festival with many of its local producers, chefs and resident foodies coming out to soak up the atmosphere of this exciting festival.

There will be many events taking place over the festival including fishing and cooking your catch, coastal wild food walks and wine and cheese tasting evenings. For a full calendar of events taking place over the festival please click here.

There will also be cookery demonstrations by some of St Ives’ leading chefs on the Harbour Beach (opposite The Sloop Inn) on Saturday 21^st and Sunday 22^nd.  The cookery demonstrations will begin at 2pm, 3pm and 4pm on each day so arrive early to ensure you get a front row spot.

The West Pier will host a producers market on Saturday and Sunday with many of the county’s leading food and drink producers showcasing and selling their produce. Sample and buy lots of delicious goodies including wine, cider, chocolate, cheese, meat, chutneys and curry. For a full list of producers exhibiting please click here.

If you can’t make it to the festival but fancy trying some inspirational recipes at home take a look at some of the recipes provided by a handful of fabulous chefs, who head up some of the best restaurants in the town, here.

If this has got your taste buds going and you fancy a last minute foodie break in St Ives we still have limited availability over the festival period. To check availability please click here or contact us on 01736 799175.